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In November 2014, I began to catalogue the Peter Brook Collection. The collection is part of the V&A Theatre and Performance archives and will be stored at Blythe House alongside many of Brook’s friends and collaborators including Paul Scofield, Vivien Leigh, Christopher Fry and Sally Jacobs. Unlike many archives which have come to us in […]

We recently returned from a week’s visit to Delhi and Jaipur, where we visited some of the designers showing work in the exhibition and also picked up several of our new acquisitions from them – about which there will be more in a separate blog. One highlight of the trip was a visit to the National […]

Zoe Allen, Senior Gilded Furniture and Frames Conservator Phil James, Technician, Technical Services This painted and gilded carved walnut chair is part of a suite of furniture made for Marie Antoinette’s Cabinet Particulier in the palace of Saint – Cloud outside of Paris. It was made by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené (1748–1803) in 1788 and was painted […]

The Tower of Babel – Shop of the Day 12 Is this the king of multi purpose shops? Fishmonger, Bric-a-Brac and hairdressers. Not traditional bedfellows but this shop on the Seven Sisters Road near Holloway Road is having a good go at it. I’m not sure what is stacked up in the upstairs windows either? […]

In November 2014, I began to catalogue the Peter Brook Collection. The collection is part of the V&A Theatre and Performance archives and will be stored at Blythe House alongside many of Brook’s friends and collaborators including Paul Scofield, Vivien Leigh, Christopher Fry and Sally Jacobs. Unlike many archives which have come to us in […]

The Tower of Babel – Shop of the Day 10 I can’t believe it’s Sunday again, this blog is making the time count down even faster. So keeping with the Sunday theme here is a great example of one of my favourite types of shops. A dual purpose outlet. That’s not a very catchy way of […]

We recently returned from a week’s visit to Delhi and Jaipur, where we visited some of the designers showing work in the exhibition and also picked up several of our new acquisitions from them – about which there will be more in a separate blog. One highlight of the trip was a visit to the National […]

A brilliant, controversial designer, innovator and pioneer of fashion whose influence has been more fully appreciated since his death. Not Alexander McQueen but French couturier Paul Poiret. Like McQueen he was seen as a maverick, confronting established fashion rules and unafraid to break away from traditional couture techniques. He was one of the first […]